The Kingdom stressed that the establishment of a zone free of nuclear weapons and weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East is a collective responsibility at the international level, urging the international community, the United Nations and the states parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons to fulfill their obligations towards the establishment of this zone, especially the signatories of the treaty, to promote peace, security and stability in the Middle East in particular and the world in general. This came during the kingdom's speech at the debate on nuclear weapons during the work of the First Committee for Disarmament and International Security at the seventy fourth session of the United Nations General Assembly, delivered today by member of the kingdom's permanent delegation to the United Nations First Secretary Mohammed Al-Qahtani. Al-Qahtani said that the kingdom reaffirms that Israel's continued refusal to accede to the NPT and subject all its nuclear facilities to the IAEA comprehensive safeguards regime constitutes a serious threat to international peace and security, as well as a violation and defiance of dozens of relevant United Nations resolutions and Security Council resolutions 487 and 687, pointing out that on the other hand the kingdom stresses the importance of a "comprehensive international agreement" on Iran's nuclear program to ensure that it is prevented from obtaining nuclear weapons in any way. Al-Qahtani welcomed the call by the Secretary General of the United Nations to the Middle East nuclear-weapon-free conference to be held by the United Nations next November under the chairmanship of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan on the establishment of a nuclear-weapon-free zone in the Middle East in accordance with General Assembly decision 546/73. And urges all states parties invited to participate in this conference to participate in it without any preconditions. He stated that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia affirms the inherent right of all countries to peacefully use nuclear energy in accordance with the standards and procedures of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and supports the position to facilitate the transfer of technology, expertise and equipment related to the acquisition of atomic energy for peaceful uses. The Kingdom also urges industrialized countries to cooperate to remove obstacles to technology transfer in these areas to developing countries, he said.
